European
political intervention followed economic penetration. In 1536 the
Ottoman Empire, then at the height of its power, had voluntarily
granted concessions to France, but the system of capitulations introduced
at that time was later used to impose important limitations on Ottoman
sovereignty. Commercial privileges were greatly extended, and residents
who came under the protection of a treaty country were thereby made
subject to the jurisdiction of that country's law rather than Ottoman
law, an arrangement that led to flagrant abuses of justice. The
last thirty years of the sixteenth century saw the rapid onset of
a decline in Ottoman power symbolized by the defeat of the Turkish
fleet by the Spanish and Portuguese at the Battle of Lepanto in
1571 and by the unbridled bloody succession struggles within the
imperial palace, the Seraglio of Constantinople.

In
Islamic history, Suleyman is regarded as the perfect Islamic ruler
in history. He is asserted as embodying all the necessary characteristics
of an Islamic ruler, the most important of which is justice. The
reign of Suleyman in Ottoman and Islamic history is generally regarded
as the period of greatest justice and harmony in any Islamic state.
The Europeans called Suleyman "The Magnificent," but the
Ottomans called him Kanuni, or "The Lawgiver." The Suleymanie
Mosque, built for Suleyman, describes Suleyman in its inscription
as Nashiru kawanin al-Sultaniyye , or "Propagator of the Sultanic
Laws." The primacy of Suleyman as a law-giver is at the foundation
of his place in Islamic history and world view. It is perhaps important
to step back a moment and closely examine this title to fully understand
Suleyman's place in history.

The word used for law here, kanun, has a very
specific reference. In Islamic tradition, the Shari'ah, or laws
originally derived from the Qur'an , are meant to be universally
applied across all Islamic states. No Islamic ruler has the power
to overturn or replace these laws. So what laws was Suleyman "giving"
to the Islamic world? What precisely does kanun refer to since it
doesn't refer to the main body of Islamic law, the Shari'ah ?